CBN Approves Sale Of $876.3m To 26 Banks To Crash Dollar Price

***Rejects $313.69m Request From Six Banks

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has approved the sale of $876.26m to 26 banks in a bid to stabilise the naira.

The bank said it received a total of $1.18bn request from 32 authorised banks that submitted comprehensive templates of their unmet foreign exchange demand to customers.

The apex bank said in a statement signed by the Director, Financial Markets Department, Omolara Omotunde Duke that the banks submitted the templated on August 6, 2024.

However, $313.69m bids submitted by 6 banks were declined, the CBN said.

The CBN said, “A total bid valued at $1.18bn was received from 32 Authorized Dealers Banks, of which, bids valued at $876.26m from 26 banks qualified, while bids valued at $313.69m from six banks were disqualified.

“Of the disqualified bids, four banks submitted their bids after the cut off time of 3:00pm, while two banks did not provide bids in the template submitted. All bids with Form Q, and unverifiable Form A and Form M on the Trade Portal were disqualified.”

According to the central bank, the 26 qualified banks were awarded the FX with a cut-off rate of N1495 per dollar.

CBN said, “In line with the objective of the CBN to boost Fx liquidity to the market as well as promote price discovery, the bank approved a cutoff rate of N1495/US$ for the Retail Dutch Auction where bids valued at US$876.26 million from 26 banks qualified.

“To ensure the transparency of the process, the total bids submitted by banks and all qualified bids for payment will be published on the website of the Central Bank of Nigeria for the information of the general public.”